“So many books, so little time.”-Frank Zappa Continue reading
A Reading List a Mile Long: Daedalus Books Late Spring 2013
8
Tag Archives: Nature
Daily Diversion #116: “Nature” is What We See*
Whenever I hike through the 733 acres of our local cemetery, I have to stifle the compulsion to declaim poetry to an audience of tombstones, trees, and birds. Instead, I turn the words inward, or whisper them under my breath. The shadow-poets I prefer change with the seasons. If winter’s sharp, cold, stinging reach is perfect for Sylvia Plath, then the gloriously still warmth of spring is the natural home for the distilled, profound and subtle Emily Dickinson.
Two forlorn graves and clumps of wildflowers are the perfect audience for Emily’s poems.
*“Nature” is what we see” is the opening line from an Emily Dickinson poem.
Daily Diversion #115: As Fast As We Can
Take a seat
“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Weekly Photo Challenge: Color/Colour
“The earth has music for those who listen.”-George Santayana
“Flowers…are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature –the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”-Rachel Carson
Daily Diversion #94: All Dressed Up with Nowhere to Go
The lonely tree covered with a coat of snow, a snow coat. All dressed up with nowhere to go. Still guarding my window, whilst playing host to his new friends.
“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”-George Santayana
Daily Diversion #91: At My Window, Sad and Lonely*
There lives a tree, just outside my window…
Lonely Tree, Take One
He stands watch over our urban street, nature’s guardian lost in a maze of manufacturing buildings. If he moves his branches just so, other trees come within view. Across the way, down the road. They have their own concerns; he is alone.
Lonely Tree, Take Two
Telephone poles, wires, patchy squirrels, delicate birds, and empty water bottles interact with him fleetingly, coldly. I wonder if they even speak the same language? Continue reading
Daily Diversion #89: Urban Snowscape, Two Ways
“Is it snowing where you are? All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns. It’s late afternoon-the sun is just setting (a cold yellow colour) behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window-seat using the last light to write to you.”-Jean Webster, Daddy-Long-Legs
Urban Snowscape, Colour
“Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.”-Sinclair Lewis
Urban Snowscape, B & W
Daily Diversion #71: I Just Can’t Stop
Just when you thought it was safe, I post another winery photo. This is the last one, though. I promise. Go ahead, you can trust me.
Shelton Vineyards, North Carolina
I Feel the Earth Move/Little Earthquakes
Too obvious, right? We experienced an earthquake early this afternoon. Registering at 4.3, it was felt in such faraway places as Georgia and North Carolina. This is where my mind went.
Right after it went here.
Daily Diversion #69: And Then There Was One
Look! It has nothing to do with wine…
North Carolina. One more for the road.
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 